COPING WITH OCCUPATIONAL STRESS: AN EMPIRICAL SURVEY

Dr. Raisa Khan

Abstract

Stress is a natural Phenomenon. We experience many difficulties, challenges and changes throughout the life. Any kind of interruption to make adjustment with these problems and challenges leads to encounter with stressful situations or events. Teacher educators work like a productive force to produce good and effective teachers and also carrying the responsibilities to inculcate teaching skills and competences among pre-service teachers. Sometime level of stress may consider beneficial or harmful which affect an individual at personal and professional front both. Selection of appropriate coping strategy may influence the vulnerability of distress caused by occupational stress. Thus, stress and coping behavior is considered as an important key component for discussion. The study was conducted on teacher educators to study the level of stress and to identify the coping strategies used by them to minimize the level of stress. Teacher’s occupational stress scale by S. Jamal and A. Raheem and self-developed coping strategies Scale were used to collect data from the sample of 30 teacher educators. The study is delimited to teacher training Institution located in Delhi and NCR and teacher educators of B.Ed. Programme only. Descriptive survey research method has been adopted and descriptive analysis through various statistical techniques were used to analyze the data. Findings of the study revealed that most of the teacher educators encounter with moderate level of stress and majority of respondents are using sharing strategies as best coping strategy to deal with stressful situation.